They
called January the first month, February the second, March the third,
and so on to December, which they called the twelfth. Thus the Quaker
kalendar was made up by numerical distinctions, which have continued to
the present day.
[Footnote 44: Septem ab imbribus.]
[Footnote 45: This was in the year 1752, prior to this time the year
began on the 25th of March: and therefore September stood in the English
as in the Roman kalendar. The early Quakers, however, as we find by a
minute in 1697, had then made these alterations; but when the new style
was introduced, they published their reasons for having done so.]
Another alteration, which took place very generally in the language of
the Quakers, was the rejection of the word saint, when they spoke either
of the apostles, or of the primitive fathers. The papal authority had
canonized these. This they considered to be an act of idolatry, and they
thought they should be giving a sanction to superstition, if they
continued the use of such a title, either in their speech or writings.
After this various other alterations took place according as individuals
among them thought it right to expunge old expressions, and to
substitute new; and these alterations were adopted by the rest, as they
had an opinion of those who used them, or as they felt the propriety of
doing it.
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